What each Lord Mayoral candidate has in store for Docklands

With the City of Melbourne election month now under way, each Lord Mayoral candidate has laid out their plan for Docklands and how they will continue to bring life to the area if elected for the next term. 

At the Meet the Candidates event run by Community3008 on September 23, each candidate delivered a Docklands-centric spiel on their vision for the area or, in some cases, lack thereof, with Rip Up the Bike Lanes’ Anthony van der Craats not attending. 

Docklanders came in droves to the event, eager to hear what each Lord Mayoral candidate had in store for their “beloved” precinct. 

From Arron Wood’s plan to revitalise the area through a community infrastructure plan to Gary Morgan’s proposal for council-led initiatives to be funded by receiving a “fair share” of Marvel Stadium’s GST, there was no shortage of grandiose plans. 

But despite the different policies, each candidate had one thing in common, which was that they saw Docklands as a suburb that will play a vital role in the future of Melbourne, with the incumbent Lord Mayor Nick Reece touting that it was the area with the most potential in the city. 

Cr Reece wants Team Reece’s actions to speak louder than words and said that his favourite part of the job was getting things done.

He said that his decision to ban e-scooters was an example of the decisive leadership style he was looking to bring to the next term if re-elected. 

“We the people have shown that we run the footpaths of this city, not Lime or Neuron, us the people and Town Hall are in charge,” Cr Reece said. 

In terms of Docklands-specific policies Cr Reece said that he planned to expand the council’s urban forest strategy to be more inclusive of Docklands and to finish the Greenline Project.

He also floated the idea of converting underutilised office spaces into a new high school following the success of Docklands Primary School. 

The majority of candidates agreed that a high school needed to be explored, including election rival Arron Wood. 

However, Mr Wood didn’t hold back in criticising the council’s approach to Docklands during the last term. 

He said that over the past four years, Docklands had seen Central Pier languish, the Wheel not spin and all sorts of promises made for Docklands, but “not too much action”. 

“We need a community infrastructure plan back again for the next 10 years, [one] that is decided by the residents and businesses in Docklands,” Mr Wood said. 

Mr Wood took a swipe at the council for its handling of controversial floating nightclub ATET, which had its licence terminated last year due to ongoing noise issues. 

He said that the approval by the council was flawed from the outset and that it had caused all sorts of problems for residents, as well as the owners of the venue.

Cr Reece was unable to comment on questions regarding ATET due to an ongoing legal dispute with the venue’s owners who are claiming that the council and Development Victoria unlawfully shut down their business.

Additionally, as part of Mr Wood’s bold election promise to scrap Greenline to fund new parks across the city, he would like to explore the option of pushing Development Victoria to bring the Harbour Esplanade Master Plan back to life.

Mr Wood wasn’t alone in wanting to explore alternative ways to green the suburb, with Cr Jamal Hakim, who is running as an independent, wanting to explore ways tactical urbanism could be used to increase tree cover along the esplanade. 

Cr Hakim, a resident of Docklands, said his policies and commitments were informed by discussions with the community. 

He would look to invest in greening and the removal of graffiti, establish an active transport and congestion strategy, install public toilets in Docklands and support arts and cultural festivals through a $10 million fund. 

Cr Hakim would also like to see the Docklands Act 1991 amended. The Act facilitates the development of the area, but Cr Hakim wants it to ensure that more private and community spaces are built as well as new businesses.

The candidate for Voices for Melbourne, Greg Bisinella, said that he would drag Development Victoria and the state government to the table to amend the Act.

But at the heart of Mr Bisnella’s campaign is having a focus on giving non-political voices to the people to ensure that residents and business owners are heard and shape the future of the city. 

Through community consultation he plans to deliver on functional and accessible community space, local business support through mentoring programs, cleaning up of trollies, a comprehensive traffic plan for Marvel Stadium events and greater support for owners’ corporations. 

Tickets endorsed by the major parties had less to say about Docklands specifically, choosing to focus on their big-picture visions for the city. 

Deputy Lord Mayoral candidate on the Liberal ticket, Luke Martin, said that they were committed to growing the economy by incentivising workers to come back to the city and improving accessibility by removing “unnecessary” bike lanes. 

He revealed that if the Liberals were elected, they would offer a five per cent cash rebate on rates for businesses that bring their employees back to the office five days a week and that council workers would also be required to return. 

Labor candidate Phil Reed vowed to “keep local government local” and to bring the focus back to the services that the council should be providing to a growing community, such as public spaces.

In a similar vein, the Greens’ Roxane Ingleton plans to “think global, act local” to help Docklands tackle housing affordability and the climate crisis. 

She said the Greens would look to invest more into greening and explore ways of reopening the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail to the public, as well as to advocate for apartment owners when the new short-stay laws are enforced in 2025. 

Team Kouta was another ticket whose vision for Docklands didn’t veer too far away from its core big-picture policies, with the former AFL player Anthony Koutoufides wanting to “make this place great again” and transform the suburb into Melbourne’s Darling Harbour. 

In addition to his free coffee for coming into the office initiative and $5000 grants for businesses that lease empty offices, Kouta wants more investment into parks and markets in Docklands. 

But it was veteran mayoral candidate Gary Morgan who in his eighth consecutive campaign for the top job at Town Hall had one of the boldest commitments.

Mr Morgan proposed that if elected he would find a way for the council to take its “fair share” of Marvel Stadium’s GST to fund greening initiatives and safety programs. 

On the other end of the spectrum was the Animal Justice Party’s Dr Eyelem Kim, who at 26 is the youngest candidate in the field. 

While advocating for animal rights is a priority for Dr Kim, she said that she wanted to represent young Melburnians and support actions that reduced cost-living pressures such as a rates freeze, as well as backing initiatives developed and led by young residents. •